‘No cheating, no exam’: Tarn Taran assistant commissioner of grievances says most of the absentee students were from other districts.

Deputy commissioner (DC) Pardeep Kumar Sabharwal said there are total 21,734 Class 12 students in the district. (Representative image )

Five days after the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) unearthed a ‘racket’ in Tarn Taran district in which money was allegedly being taken to pass students under the Open School Scheme, hundreds of students missed their Class 12 exam on Wednesday.

Tarn Taran assistant commissioner of grievances (ACG) Rajneesh Arora said around 10% students did not appear for the Physics exam on Wednesday, adding that most of the absentees were those from other districts.

“As we have ensured strictness in the exams, students of other districts are not appearing out of fear that they won’t stand a chance cheat,” he said.

Deputy commissioner (DC) Pardeep Kumar Sabharwal said there are total 21,734 Class 12 students in the district.

On February 28, school education secretary Krishan Kumar conducted a surprise visit in some schools’ centres during the English exam of Class 12. Kumar found that the schools had been violating norms of their affiliations by allowing mass copying.

For the Physics exam held on Wednesday, the education department had changed 10 more centers in the district.

The DC further said that the education department had ordered re-examination of English paper of 3,257 students of eight schools. “The district administration had also shifted 10 centres of these eight schools to Tarn Taran city,” he said.

The department had already cancelled the affiliation of Dashmesh Senior Secondary School, Valtoha, a month ago.

“There are 103 centres of which 30 are highly sensitive. We have deployed adequate police personnel there. SSP, SPs, ADC general, sub-divisional magistrates and tehsildars of the district have also been instructed to make surprise visits in all examination centres to stop cheating,” DC Sabharwal said.

Meanwhile, senior Congress leader of Khemkaran constituency Tejpreet Singh Sandhu Peter alleged that there must be some “blacksheeps” in the education department, who helped in the racket being run. “Strict action should be taken against these insiders and a high level investigation team should be constituted to probe the matter thoroughly,” he said.

Satnam Singh Manawan of United Akali Dal (UAD) also said the schools, whose affiliation was being cancelled, must have sent the Aadhar cards of the students who appeared in the examination to the education department.

“If the students were from other districts, why did the department issue roll number to them?” he said.

10 more centres changed

For the Physics exam held on Wednesday, the education department had changed 10 more centers in the district. However, thousands of students say they are being harassed by centre change, saying that they have to travel around 50 kms to attend their exams.